Jasmine Birtles
Your money-making expert. Financial journalist, TV and radio personality.
Best Discount Code Sites for Christmas Gifts
Reading Time: 4 minutesDiscount code sites are a fantastic way to save cash throughout the year! With Black Friday well and truly upon us (and then Cyber Monday… and then December deals…) you can use these sites to combine discounts for a serious bargain here and there. Here’s our pick of the best discount code sites to use!
- Are You Sure You Need to Shop?
- Layer Cashback Sites with Discount Codes
- Best Discount Code Sites for Christmas
- The Abandoned Basket Trick
- More Money Saving Tips for Christmas
Are You Sure You Need to Shop?
Before you make a beeline for the discount code sites, always ask yourself: do I actually need to buy the thing I want?
At this time of year, we’re all thinking of buying gifts for our loved ones. Which is always a fun thing to do! But, especially this year, many of us are on a tighter budget than we expected (thanks, Covid). So, before you surf the web (and remember you can make money for doing that, too), decide if you actually need to buy the things you’ve got your eye on.
Ask yourself:
- Is this an essential gift?
- Does it cost a reasonable amount?
- Could I make a gift instead for less money?
- Would the gift of time be more valuable to give?
- Will this person appreciate the gift for more than a day?
- If it’s an expensive gift, can you buy it as a joint present from you and a friend/spouse/sibling/parent?
It’s also a really good idea to start out with a gift list. Speak to your friends and family too – you might find that more people are willing to have a cost limit this year, or want to forgo presents altogether in return for a big get-together when everything finally reopens next year.
If it’s not on the list – don’t buy it!
Layer Cashback Sites with Discount Codes
Here’s a sneaky way to nab extra discounts! You need to check the fine print on each retailer, but sometimes you can layer a cashback link with a discount code. In fact, the cashback site may offer its own unique discount code, too!
So, when you’re shopping online, go via a cashback site. This will give you anything from 0.5% to 10% or more in cashback on your purchases. So, you need to spend the full amount first – but you’ll get the cashback refunded eventually. Some sites, like Topcashback, offer bonus schemes on payouts, too. That means you might be expecting 5% cashback on an item – but if you choose a payout as a gift card to spend online rather than a bank transfer, that bonus is upped to 7% or sometimes even more.
Compare cashback sites before choosing which one to shop through for each gift. It’s a bit more laborious to do this, but signing up to several cashback sites gives you two benefits: you can take advantage of new customer bonus cashback deals AND you can find the best cashback rate. Some retailers also have exclusive deals with a single cashback sites, too – so if you’re signed up to all of them, you increase your chances of getting cashback on your purchases.
We like and trust:
As the best places to start with cashback!
The Best Discount Code Sites for Christmas
First up, if you are (or know!) a student, make the most of the NUS/Totem Card discount. These are often the very best reductions you can get.
Discount code sites have various types of codes and levels of success. Some are updated daily while others might have out-of-date codes, so you’ll need to try a few to find the best discount! It is also worth checking whether you can get a better reduction through cashback sites (see above) than the discount on offer through a code side.
Having said all that, you can claim everything from extra discounts on sale items to free delivery with voucher code sites!
Try these:
You can also find great bargains on Groupon and Wowcher – either on products or gift experiences themselves, or discount vouchers (such as spend £10, get £20 off a purchase). Finally, we love LatestFreeStuff as a great way to bag some freebies AND find out where the best sales and discounts are!
A great way to bag a bargain on perfume, aftershave, and other beauty products is to use sites that offer discounts on top of discounts, like Fragrance Direct, too.
The Abandoned Basket Trick
One further way to earn a sneaky discount is the abandoned basket trick. It doesn’t always work, and you need to plan ahead – but it’s worth a shot!
Sign in to the website you want to use. Start shopping – put the items in your basket. Then close the page!
In a few hours (sometimes after a day), you may get an email offering you a special discount code. The email will say something like “Looks like you’ve forgotten something!” and give you an incentive code. If you’ve just registered with the website, you may also be able to claim a new customer discount code if you opt in to their marketing newsletter. The code is only valid once – so you can use it then opt out of the newsletter afterwards!
More Ways to Save Money at Christmas
We know Christmas is a tight budget time of year for everyone. That’s why we’ve rounded up the best ways to have a cheap and nearly-free holiday season!
- Have a Free Christmas
- How to Make Money from Unwanted Christmas Presents
- 11 Creative Ways to Save Money at Christmas
Great info. I hadn’t heard of Widilo before so I’ll check it out.